Chapter Eighty-Eight: Elder Brother Yifeng

Hei Yu and Ling Xiao Lei tactfully withdrew to avoid being caught up in the storm.

“Who are you calling your brother?” he roared, shouting out his name, “Yi Feng! Explain to me what happened ten years ago!”

The indelible memory surged forth. On that abyssal, pitch-black night, the blood-red moon was pierced by skeletal branches, frantic shadows of trees fled across the moonlit ground, and the chaos of footsteps and raised voices filled the courtyard—haunting his every restless, tear-soaked dream.

That night ten years ago, six-year-old Yi Xin awoke from sleep with a start. He pushed open his door and entered the courtyard, only to see a dagger plunging into his mother’s abdomen. Crimson blood streamed down her white gauze dress, and in his brother Yi Feng’s hand was the hilt of the knife.

Yi Xin’s mouth fell open; no sound would come. His mother collapsed to the ground, the blood on the blade glaring scarlet, stabbing his eyes with pain.

He would never forget that night, nor would he ever forgive Yi Feng—the one he hated with every fiber of his being.

“Was it you…? Answer me!” Yi Xin roared, struggling to control his emotions, fists clenched white.

But Yi Feng only laughed coldly.

“Such an absurd question…”

Yi Feng’s indifference only further enraged Yi Xin. He bit down hard and swung his fist; a torrent of flame shot straight at Yi Feng.

“So you admit it!”

Yi Feng neither struck back nor dodged; he stood unmoved, his expression as indifferent as if nothing could touch him. Just as Hei Yu thought the blow would land, the fire Yi Xin hurled unexpectedly veered off course, twisting sharply a pace before Yi Feng, flying off to the side and exploding in the distance.

“What magic is this? Something that can alter the course of a spell?”

Hei Yu was shocked, but then it struck him—wasn’t this the manipulation of time and space he’d read about in a booklet called ‘Dark Curse Space-time’?

“Awoo!”

Startled by the sudden flames, the small fox bristled, leaping up and exclaiming, “How dare you attack my master! Awoo—I'll show you!”

Tears nearly spilled from Yi Xin’s eyes. He unleashed wave after wave of flame, meteors streaking down, filling the sky with blazing fire, striking at Yi Feng with relentless fury.

Yi Feng stood like a mountain, calm and immovable. Each fireball veered aside, exploding to his left and right like fireworks, unable to so much as touch him. Only the gusts from the blasts stirred the hem of his long robe.

The little fox could take no more and was about to rush out to fight Yi Xin, but Ling Xi stopped her coldly.

“Fox, go home.”

“Awoo! The fox wants to fight for her master!”

Ling Xi was in no mood to argue. “Go back.”

Her ears drooped instantly, her eyes swimming with tears. “Did I do something wrong again…” She dared not meet Ling Xi’s gaze and quickly leapt down from the tower.

Hei Yu and Ling Xiao Lei retreated further. They could not understand why Yi Xin was suddenly so furious, nor had they ever seen him so out of control.

Yi Xin was overwhelmed with emotion. His big brother, Yi Feng, had once held an irreplaceable place in his heart. Now, with every fiery blow, he demanded, “Why?”

“Stop wasting your strength,” Yi Feng said. He suddenly snapped his fingers, and a violet flame instantly reduced a book to ashes—the very book that had so captivated Ling Xiao Lei: ‘The Trinity of the Three Realms’.

“The truth no longer needs any more witnesses.”

“No!” Ling Xiao Lei clutched his chest in anguish, as if pierced by a thousand arrows. “The book…”

He glanced at another book in his hand—‘Dark Curse Space-time’. Memories surfaced, but he was not swayed. He tore the book in two, tossing one half to Hei Yu and burning the other to cinders.

“Since fate has brought us together, I’ll give this book to you, child of the Demon.”

Hei Yu caught it, uncertain whether to thank him, especially with Yi Xin’s eyes blazing with fury.

“Let’s go,” Yi Feng said, intending to leave with Ling Xi. But Yi Xin could not let him go, shouting,

“Don’t go!”

He launched into another frenzied assault.

“Fireball Spell—Meteor Rain!”

It was as if a rain of fire fell from the sky—massive fireballs plunged down, illuminating the night, about to crash atop Yi Feng.

But with his back turned, Yi Feng remained unhurried. Black halos rose at his feet, expanding upwards until a vast, inky vortex unfolded above his head. Every fireball Yi Xin hurled was silently swallowed, not a single one falling astray.

Hei Yu stood dumbfounded. Of the three spells Yi Feng had just used—the first was the unprecedented manipulation of time and space; the second, a violet flame; and now, without doubt, he wielded Hei Yu’s most familiar magic—dark magic.

And not just any dark magic, but the most powerful Devouring Spell of the entire dark school! Hei Yu could not help but admire this man’s strength.

“Flames of Destruction—”

Just as Yi Xin raised his staff to cast yet again, a sudden violet vine erupted from beneath his feet and wrapped him tight.

“Ah!” He lost his balance, crashing to the ground, his hands and feet bound fast.

Ling Xi turned, a chilling, wintry smile on his lips. “Don’t even think about following.”

By now, Yi Feng had already leapt into the night sky, vanishing like a mysterious shadow.

“Yi Feng!” Yi Xin’s hoarse cries echoed, but the vines kept him pinned, unable to move an inch.

He struggled desperately, fire bursting from his body, but even that could not burn through these vines. He crawled forward, inch by agonizing inch. With every move, the barbs tore deeper into his flesh, leaving bleeding wounds.

“Tsk, don’t move,” Ling Xi advised coolly. “Those vines are covered in reverse thorns—the more you struggle, the deeper they dig in. Give up, or you’ll only suffer more.” With that, he, too, took flight and was gone.

“Yi Feng, come back! Don’t go!” Yi Xin still howled after him, “You owe me an explanation! Was it you… was it you who killed Mother…” He could not bear Yi Feng vanishing from his sight again. Great tears rolled down his face.

In that nightmarish, never-ending darkness, beneath the pale moonlight in the courtyard, his father held his mother’s shoulders in grief, her white dress stained red with blood. At that moment, the Thunder Emperor, standing before the elders of the Pantheon, raised his arm and declared in a thunderous voice,

“Matricide—Yi Feng shall be exiled for eternity beyond the Border Wall, forbidden ever to set foot on the continent again!”